DVS Games

Invisibly, the fairies spied on the goats bickering as they lounged beneath the afternoon sun.

"You young 'uns don't know what it used to be like," drolled the oldest goat. The young goats rolled their eyes, and adjusted themselves as drowsiness threatened.

"In my day," rambled the ancient goat, "trolls didn't just stand atop bridges. They hid under them, and you wouldn't know a bridge was unsafe until it was too late!"

A slightly smaller but also old goat quipped sarcastically, "Yea, and then a goat would have to be heroic to save its skin...do something valiant like offer its siblings as potential troll food!"

The oldest goat sniffled in disdain, except that since it was a goat the sniffle came out quite snort-like. It continued, "And that's another thing. In my day there were goats big enough to knock a troll off a bridge!" Some of the youngest goats who had not heard this particular rant looked up incredulously as he continued, "Yessiree Billy, we didn't have to avoid bridges simply because we could see a troll on one."

The young goats snickered at the thought of a goat attacking a troll, but the oldest goat did not notice.

"And another thing," he continued, with increasing wrath, "in my day there weren't these pesky dragons swooping down from the sky and carrying off who-knows-who without a moment's notice!"

The other goats trembled and glanced fearfully about at the mention of the d-word.

"And the grass on this side of the bridges," reminisced the oldest goat, "it was never as green as the grass on the other side, of course, but it was a little something at least. This ground here is so dry it's practically orange! I can't stand orange! If there was an 'I Hate Orange' club I'd join!"

The fairies had seen enough. "Sure you want this crowd, Sparkletoe? Okay, if you say so. Then we all have picked a group of goats. And there's the grassy island, across the bridges from where any of us start. Lunch time is in half an hour; we'll start then. Whoever is the first to get three goats to the grassy island wins, and the losers get rainbow duty!"

In Goats Gruff you are a fairy in charge of guiding your goats (big, medium, and little) to the Island of Good Grass. There are four bridges from the Outside Land to the Island. Two trolls move among these four bridges. Play cards to take and use the magic wands: if you have the proper magic wand you can move a certain-sized goat or a troll. Also, if you have just the right combinations of cards you can stir the dragon, who will swoop down to eat one of your rival's goats. Who will be the first to help three goats get to the Island?

This is a children's game because strategy can be neglected for straightforward play and the way in which players compete for the magic wands is childishly simple (I'm taking it... No you're not... Yes I am... No you're not...). Adults would probably enjoy this game as much as children only when tired or inebriated. For a more mature, intellectual, similar game based on the same game mechanic please see my Walls and Stairways.

To purchase this game please visit the store.

Because of a White Elephant Gift Exchange my sister- and brother-in-law acquired a copy of The Power Puff Girls Card Game, which to the best of my knowledge introduced the concept of using the same deck of cards to both bid for suit-specific gizmos and also to use the gizmos once you control them. However, that game has negligible strategy, and too much luck for my preferences. So I invented Gruff Goats and Walls and Stairways to use a somewhat similar game mechanic in a more interesting, and strategic manner. The resulting games are very different from The Power Puff Girls, but I should give that heroic trio their due.